Prelude to War
by treevespca.tr
Summary: As Nagato, Naruto's now deceased sibling student of Jiraiya, once said "Wasteful death... eternal hatred... and pain that does not heal... That's... That's what war is". Join Naruto, a for the first time in his life, he gets to witness the full brunt of the meaning of these words. Witness how he connects the experiences of this new world with his own to grasp the hardships of war.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Madara's Plan**

There were two people walking into a cave. One of them was a teenage boy that looked to be about 16 and the other was a man. The boy had raven colored-haired, and wore an off white shirt that was able to zip up. The shirt also happened to have a high collar on it. On the back of his shirt, was the symbol of his almost obsolete clan, the Uchiha. It resembled a fan blowing flames away. He had on dark blue pants, and wore a dark blue cover over it, which were held up by thick purple rope that was supposed to be like a belt. He also wore black sandals. He was equipped with sword and he looked a bit unkempt. His shirt was torn a bit, he had a couple of scratches on him, and one of his eyes were bleeding. He held that eye in pain. The other person, had black spiky hair and wore an orange mask. The mask only had one eye hole and it seemed to have a swirly pattern that led to that eye hole. He also wore a black cloak that had a red cloud pattern on it. He also wore sandals himself.

"I'm going to destroy Naruto and that's final" said the boy. "Right after I get Itachi's eyes"

"Sasuke" said the masked man. "Before you do that, I have a mission for you"

Sasuke turned around and glared at the man as he still held his bleeding eye. " I don't have time for that"

"Just hear me out" said the masked man. "After your fight with the 5 Kage, when Karin was healing you, I had a little talk with them. I declared the 4th Great Ninja War for possession of the 8 and 9 tails"

"And…"

"While you were facing off with your own teammates, I was working on a project. I teleported into… another world. I did this to find a place for you to test your skills for the war. Since this other world is going through a war right now as we speak, I figured that this would be the best time to test you and see how useful you'd be"

"I could care less about this war in general. What I really care about right now is replacing these eyes for Itachi's, and destroying the Hidden Leaf. That includes Naruto". Sasuke was clearly annoyed with all the crap that he just heard. Uninterested in what Madara had planned for him, he walked forward, shoving Madara out of way. Madara then quickly jumped right in front of him.

"You will do what I ask" commanded Madara. "Don't even try to fight right now. We both know that you barely have any chakra left from fighting the 5 Kage, your former teammates and Danzo. We both know how this will end"

Sasuke was unfazed by Madara's threats. "And what's in it for me then? Why should I care about this stupid mission?"

"I'll hand over Itachi's eyes. I'll even send Naruto over there so you two can even the score. That should save you the trouble of having to deal with him later when you actually go to terrorize the Hidden Leaf now wouldn't it? Especially if Naruto's really the only shinobi there that should give you trouble"

Sasuke thought about this for a moment. "I'll go prepare". He walked away.

"Hold it" said Madara as he walked over to Sasuke.

"What now?" asked Sasuke impatiently. Madara gave him an object the size of the marble. "What's this?"

"Just eat it. It'll restore some of your chakra and let you use the Sharingan once more. I only made one of these, so in the other world take care of yourself". As he said this, Sasuke ate the object. "Give it a few minutes. You'll feel better than you are now". Sasuke then walked away to get ready. He came back a couple of minutes later, the blood from his eye completely gone and he was carrying a bag on his back with a few supplies.

"Take me there" said Sasuke. Madara put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. A vortex came out of the eye hole and it started pulling Sasuke into it. He was then gone. This skill was called Kamui.

"Now for Naruto Uzumaki" said Madara.

There was snow everywhere in the field, and there were only eight people out and about. They all wore white cloaks to keep warm. There were 4 boys that looked like they were at least 16, 2 girls that looked as old as the boys, and 2 men that looked to be in their early 30s. One boy had blond spiky hair. Under his cloak, he wore a orange and black jumpsuit and wore a black headband with a symbol on it. That symbol made it clear that he was a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf Village located in the Land of Fire. He even had three whisker marks on each side of his cheeks and he wore black sandals. He was known as Naruto Uzumaki. Another boy had brown spiky hair. Like Naruto, he was wearing a jumpsuit under his cloak, however his was only black. He also wore a black headband with the same marking on it as Naruto, and he had red marks on his face. These marks made people know that he was from the Inuzuka Clan. He was known as Kiba Inuzuka. A large white dog was walking right next to him who happened to be his pet, partner, and best friend, Akamaru. Another boy had straight, shiny black hair. Under his cloak, he wore a green Chunin vest over his green skin tight jumpsuit, and wore orange leg warmers. He even wore bandages around his arms and hands. He didn't have on a headband like Naruto and Kiba and was known as Rock Lee. The last boy had straight brown hair. He wore a black and grey midriff and black pants under his cloak. His shirt also happened to have one sleeve be a long sleeve and one sleeve be a short sleeve. He wore a black headband like Naruto and Kiba. He was known as Sai. One of the teenage girls had had straight pink hair. Under her cloak, she wore a red sleeveless shirt with a white O on the back of it. She wore a tan skirt with black shorts under it. Like Naruto and Kiba, she wore a headband but not like how they wore theirs. She wore hers like a hair band and it happened to be red. She was known as Sakura Haruno. The other teenage girl didn't have on a headband like Naruto, Kiba, and Sakura. She wore glasses and had red hair. She wore a purple uniform that showed her belly, black shorts and black stockings. She was unconscious and was being a carried by one of the men in the group. The man had spiky gray hair that tilted to the side and wore a Chunin vest like Rock Lee. He wore a dark blue sweater under this vest and wore dark blue pants. He had a headband that was also navy blue and it was slanted over one of his eyes and even wore a dark blue mask that covered the bottom half of his face. He was known as Kakashi Hatake. He was carrying the unconscious teenage girl known as Karin. The other man had brown spiky hair and wore the same thing as Kakashi except he didn't wear a mask. He wore a headband but not like the rest of the group. His headband was worn like a faceplate.

"Sakura, why didn't you let us face Sasuke!" yelled Kiba. "He would've been with us by now!"

Sakura looked at him as if she was annoyed. "Kiba, for the 100th time, I'm sorry"

"Kiba is right" started Rock Lee. "If all of us were there, then Sasuke would be with us as we speak"

"Geez, are you guys going to keep whining about that?" interrupted Naruto. "You both are acting like Shino!"

"If anyone should whining right now, it's me" said Yamato.

"Now Yamato" started Kakashi. "If Naruto hadn't showed up when he did, I wouldn't be so sure if Sakura or I would've made it out alive"

"And speaking of Naruto, he's needed somewhere else" said an ominous voice. Out of nowhere, a vortex appeared and instantly, Madara appeared right in front of them. "We've been meeting up a lot lately"

"So how many times are you gonna keep popping up outta nowhere!" exclaimed an enraged Naruto.

"Intros aside, Naruto, come with me"

"Over my dead body!"

"I knew you'd say that" said Madara seriously. He did a couple of hand signs and yelled, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!". A medium sized fireball was shot at Naruto, who jumped up to avoid it. He then threw three kunai knives at Madara. However, they just passed right through him. He was intangible.

'Now is my chance' thought Lee. He ran up at high speeds towards Madara, followed by high speed punches and kicks that were almost undodgeable. This caught Madara off guard due to the speed of his attacks. Madara almost got hit, however Rock Lee's hits went right through him. Madara ran right through it. Seeing this, Kiba and Akamaru decided to take action.

"Let's go!" said Kiba as he and Akamaru ran towards Madara. "Fang over Fang!". He and Akamaru jumped and started spinning furiously horizontally. They spun towards Madara, who was still running.

'When will they learn…' thought Madara as he still continued to run. Madara simply just ran through their attack.

'We've got to get him in a position where it'll be too late for him to use that jutsu' thought Kakashi. He turned to Yamato. He gave Karin to him. He then looked at Sai. "I need you to divert his attention"

"Understood!" said Sai. He took out a scroll and a paint brush. He smothered it in ink and quickly painted on the scroll. "Ninja Art: Super Beast Scroll!". A stampede of white tiger-like beasts started jumping out of the scroll. They all ran towards Madara. There were so many of them that Madara couldn't even see anyone in front of him except those beasts.

"Kakashi-Sensei what can I do?" asked Naruto.

"For now, just sit here" said Kakashi. He then thought to himself. 'I can't let him get too close to Madara. He'll probably just use that jutsu to teleport Naruto somewhere else'. He then put his index and middle fingers on both hands together and crossed them. An exact clone of him appeared. "I hope this plan works".

Madara was running through the stampede of drawn animals. 'What are they planning? he thought. It seemed like an endless sea of beasts running right at him. Suddenly he saw that the stampede was clearing up a bit and he even saw Kakashi running up to him. He had a mass of lightening in in his hand.

"Lightning Blade!" Kakashi yelled.

'Hmph' thought Madara. Kakashi had went through Madara and Madara continued running towards Naruto who was right in front of him. He put his hand around Naruto's neck and tackled him to the ground. A vertex started to form from Madara's eye. Just when he thought about how surprisingly easily this task was, Naruto's body had all of a suddenly poofed, and right in front of him was Sakura. Madara cancelled out the vortex, and jumped off Sakura because by then, she was trying to punch him. 'Transformation Jutsu! Where did the real one go?'. He then felt something grab him by the shin. He looked down and saw that it was someone's hand. It yanked him down and he saw someone leap out of the snow. It was Kakashi. Madara's body was completely underground with the exception of his head. Using Kamui, Madara vanished before Kakashi had a chance to do anything else. He teleported to a nearby tree and hid himself out of sight from everyone. 'There's too many of them to take them full on. I just need to find the 9 tails and teleport over to him'. He scouted the field to see where Naruto was.

"Kakashi-sensei, is it safe to come out already?!" yelled Naruto. He was right behind a tree. Madara followed the sound of his voice. It sounded like it was coming from the opposite end of the field. He looked closely and saw Naruto slightly peek over behind a tree. 'There'

"Get back in cover you idiot! Madara could still be around here waiting for the right time to strike!" yelled Sakura. Naruto sighed and did what he was told. He wanted to be part of the action too. He wanted Madara gone as much as his friends wanted. He looked over and saw that all of his companions were staying vigilant and making absolutely sure that Madara wasn't among them anymore. Suddenly he felt someone grab him by the neck and shove him to the ground. It was Madara. Madara dug his knee into Naruto's stomach and Naruto howled in pain.

"Naruto!" everyone yelled. They all started to run over to his location. Madara quickly warped him away using Kamui; it had been too late for them to rescue him. By the time they made it over there they only saw Madara, who was warping himself away.

"You were too late" he said. He was then completely gone.

"No…" said Kakashi not believing in what he just saw. He got down on the ground and banged his fists against it in anger. "Damn it!"


	2. Chapter 2: The Northern Water Tribe

**Chapter 2: The Northern Water Tribe**

A 12 year old bald kid came running out of a cave. He was in some mysterious world that people called the Spirit World. He had blue arrow tattoos all over his body and wore a loose red-orange shawls over his yellow shirt-like robe. This identified him as one of the Air Nomads. He looked down at the water that was just outside of the cave and saw the reflection of a human being. He was old and had on red robes. He had long white hair that was tied up in a small bun and had a long white beard.

"The spirits are in trouble! I have to get back to the physical world!" said the young Air Nomad. He was talking to the reflection of the old man in the water.

"A friend is here to guide you back. However, be cautious Aang" started the old man. "A threat in an orange mask has been lurking about in the physical world"

Aang looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean Roku?"

"He looks like he isn't from here, and his presence seems rather ominous. From what it looks like he's also brought other foreign characters from the unknown. He even possess a abilities that even I cannot fathom. Be careful" warned Roku as he faded away. In his place, Aang saw a reflection of a giant panda. Aang turned around and smiled at it.

"Hei Bei!" he exclaimed. He jumped on the beast's head and it started leaping through the Spirit World. Hei Bei had taken Aang to a gate where he could be transferred back into the physical world.

Naruto hit his head real hard on the ground. He got up and rubbed his head in pain. He looked around and saw a boy that was about his age standing right in front of him shocked.

"Who are you?! How did you get here?!" demanded the boy. He had on a white vest with a hood and wore a white sweater underneath. He also wore brown pants and had a nasty red scar on his left eye. He was bald but he did have a patch of hair that was tied into a ponytail. "The Avatar's friends probably sent you here to get him back".

"What's an Avatar?" asked Naruto.

"Playing dumb isn't going to save you!" said the boy. Flames that were shaped like daggers instantly appeared in his hands.

'I didn't know people could even form chakra like that' thought Naruto as he looked at the boy's hands.

"If you really want the Avatar, you'll have to go through me" said the boy taking a fighting stance.

Naruto looked around him to see what the boy was talking about. He then looked behind him and saw Aang, tied up and looking dead at him. "That's the Avatar?" he questioned. However the boy couldn't answer it due to the fact that he and Naruto were blown into a wall due to Aang blowing a strong gust of wind at them. That gust of wind also pushed Aang right out of the cave that they were in. Naruto was the first to recover. He looked outside of the cave into the snowy tundra and saw that Aang was trying to get away. "Hey kid! Wait up!". Naruto started running after Aang. The other boy was still recovering. Once Naruto caught up to Aang, he grabbed him and took a kunai out. Aang started to squirm around. "Hold on, I'm trying to cut you out of here!". Suddenly Naruto saw a fireball coming right at them. At that moment, a wall of ice came up from the snow and shielded the two of them from the incoming fireball. Aang and Naruto looked behind them and saw that there were 3 people and a large white beast. All three of these newcomers wore parkas and had been wearing their hood. One of them looked a bit younger than Naruto, but a bit older than Aang. She was holding her hands up as if she was the one who was holding the wall of ice up. The second person was a boy that looked just as old as Naruto. The third person was a girl and she looked as old as Naruto. She was sitting in the saddle that happened to be on the beast's back. The beast itself was big. Even bigger than Hei Bei. It had horns and a piece of rope was attached to both of its horns. It also had six legs and a beaver-like tail and had an arrow running down his head like Aang.

"Appa!" yelled Aang. He was glad to see friendly faces for wall of snow came down as the girl who had her hands up in the first place put them down.

"Here for a rematch?" questioned the boy who had shot the fireball.

"Trust me Zuko" said the girl. "It's not gonna be much of a rematch". Zuko then shot a fireball at the girl. The girl raised her hands and a shield of water came up. She then sent a wall of snow towards Zuko, which picked him up when it reached him. She froze the wall for a few seconds, which trapped Zuko. She then caused the wall to tumbled right back down to the ground. She unfroze the ice, thus making it turn right back into snow. Naruto was not only amazed at the fact that the girl had apparently knocked Zuko out by doing this to him, but also because she was able to to all of this without handsigns. He had never even seen people have THAT much control over an element of their native chakra nature.

"I've never seen someone have that much chakra control" he said. He then cut Aang out of the ropes he was bound in. Aang then stood up on his feet.

"Uh, thanks! Whoever you are" Aang said.

Naruto shrugged. "Ehh, it's what I do. So what are you doing all the way out here?"

"Not to interrupt whatever conversation you two are having, but the Water Tribe still needs us!" yelled the boy with the parka.

"Water Tribe?" questioned Naruto.

"You know, the Northern Water Tribe?" asked the boy. Naruto looked at him like he didn't know what he was talking about.

"Wait, so there's tribes in the Land of Iron?" asked Naruto. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy. He then thought to himself. 'What did I say'

"Whatever. We don't have time for this! Come on guys let's go!" commanded the boy. He started walking towards the great white beast.

Aang turned and looked at Zuko. "We can't just leave him here" he spoke up.

"Sure we can" said the boy in the parka. He was already in the beast's saddle.

"No, he'll die". Aang then turned to Naruto. "Can you help me put him on Appa's back?". As he said this, the boy with the parka sighed.

"Appa?" asked Naruto. He turned to the white-furred giant animal. "Him?". Aang nodded. They both used the rope that Aang was just tied in to tie up Zuko. They then put him in the giant saddle that was on Appa's back.

"Can I come with you guys? I kinda got lost" asked Naruto.

"Sure" said Aang. He lept onto Appa's head. Naruto sat down in the saddle. He was not ready for what was about to happen next. "Yip yip!". Appa then jumped off of the ground and started flying.

"What the…! We're flying!" exclaimed an amazed Naruto.

"Well, this is a flying bison" said Aang. "I almost forgot to introduce myself. I'm Aang". He then pointed to the girl in the blue parka. "That's Katara". He then pointed to the boy. "That's her brother, Sokka". He then pointed to the girl in the purple parka. "And that's Yue".

"I'm Naruto" said Naruto. "I never knew flying bisons existed". Everyone looked at him. "What?"

"You never knew a flying bison even existed?" asked Katara.

Naruto shook his head. "Never even heard of 'em. Anyway, that was some cool Water Style Jutsu you did back there"

"You mean Waterbending?"

"Waterbending? Is that another name for Water Style?" asked Naruto. He began to wonder why everyone kept looking at him like they just saw a ghost.

"You don't know what Waterbending is?" asked Aang. Naruto shook his head.

"It's basically the ability to magically control water" chimed in Sokka.

"What my brother is trying to say is that Waterbending is the ability to control any form of water" said Katara giving Sokka a dirty look.

"Well I've seen people control water before but they usually call it Water Style" said Naruto.

"Have you even heard of Earth, Fire, and Airbending?" asked Sokka.

Naruto shook his head again. "But I've heard of Earth Style, Fire Style, and Wind Style. I happen to be a Wind Style user myself"

"You're an Airbender!?" exclaimed Aang.

"Well I can't control it that well, like how Katara can Waterbend, but I can use it to make this one jutsu that I have even stronger" stated Naruto.

"Why do you keep using all of these weird terms?" asked Katara. "We've never heard of these before"

"What weird terms? If anyone's using 'weird terms' it's you guys!" said Naruto.

"What do mean us?! You're the one that keeps bringing up stuff like 'Water Style', 'Jutsu', 'Land of Iron', I mean, what are those?! And how is this even a land of iron? Snow isn't even made out of that!" Sokka shot back. "Aang, Katara, this is why you never take certain things as you get older. It'll mess with your mind!"

"Hey I know what I'm talking about here! If there's anyone with a screwed up mind its you!" Naruto argued.

"Guys, calm down. We're not gonna solve anything by screaming at each other" said Aang. "Naruto, do you at least know about chi"

"Nope. I know what chakra is" answered Naruto.

'That must've been quite a drop he fell from when he was a baby because I think he maybe in Coo-Coo land' thought Sokka.

"Chakra?" asked Katara.

"It's what lets you use jutsu, or that Waterbending you were talking about" answered Naruto.

"Please tell me you know about the 100 year war" said Sokka.

"There's a war going on? Wait, how's that even possible? You mean to tell me that there was another war going on during the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Great Ninja Wars?" asked Naruto.

"What are you talking about? This is the only war that's been happening for the last century" corrected Aang.

'Madara, what did you do?!' thought Naruto.

"And what are these 'Ninja Wars'?" asked Katara. Suddenly the sky turned blood-red.

"What's happening?" asked Naruto. He looked over and saw that Yue, who had not talked this entire time was holding her head as if she was in pain.

"Are you ok?" asked Sokka as he went over to comfort her.

"I feel faint" she responded.

"I feel it too" said Aang holding his head.

Naruto started holding his stomach. He felt a bit of a burning sensation from it. 'Even I feel it. This must be from the 9 tails' he thought.

Aang started looking at the moon. "The moon spirit is in trouble"

Naruto had learned a lot on the short ride. His newfound companions told him how the they were in the middle of a battle with the Fire Nation. They told him how the Fire Nation was trying to get their hands on the moon spirit. Once they got to the oasis, they saw a group of men wearing red armor. They wore helmets and wore skull masks. Only one of them didn't. That one person was wearing red like everyone else, however he also wore a red sash with a black cape. He also had mutton chops and his hair was tied into a small bun. The oasis that they had gone to had been a lush garden that was located within the Northern Water Tribe. There was a pond in the center, and they oasis more or less sort of resembled a small island from a bird's eye view. There were bridges on either side of the sliver of land that they were on. To Naruto's surprise, the oasis was warm despite the fact that it was right in the middle of some glaciers.

"Hey you!" called out Naruto. "Are you the one that's been attacking these innocent people?!"

The man with no mask looked at them. Naruto, Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Yue were all on one side of the pond, ready to confront him. The man and his entourage of Fire Nation soldiers were on the opposite. "Don't even bother". As he said this, he raised up a bag. He smirk crept across his face.

"Zhao! Don't!" exclaimed Aang. He happened to have a staff in hand, ready to fight. However, he lowered it.

"So what's in the bag?! That moon-spirit you guys were talking about?" asked Naruto.

"Yes. It's my destiny… to destroy the moon… and the Water Tribe" said Zhao.

"Destroying the moon won't hurt JUST the Water Tribe" said Aang calmingly. "It'll hurt everyone, including you"

"Right! So let it go!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Without the moon" Aang continued. "Everything would fall out of balance. You have no idea what kind of chaos that would unleash on the world"

"You think I'm just going to let a couple brats screw up my plans " Zhao shouted back.

"He's right Zhao" said a voice. Everyone looked over from where it came from.

'This day just gets weirder and weirder' thought Naruto. 'Where'd he come from?'

"General Iroh" said Zhao. "Why am I not surprised to discover your treachery?". Iroh had on a red robe attached with a hood. He also had mutton chops and his hairstyle was like Zhao's. His hair however, was grey from old age and it was long.

"I'm no traitor Zhao" replied Iroh. "The Fire Nation needs the moon too. We all depend on the balance. Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash a new tenfold! LET IT GO, NOW!". Zhao hesitated for a moment. He then knelt down and opened the bag. A white fish came out of it and swam into the pond that separated Zhao's party and Aang's. Then, in a fit of rage, Zhao unleashed a wave of fire at the white fish. Iroh and everyone in Aang's group all had horrified looks on their faces. The moon had suddenly disappeared. Everything was black and white. Iroh quickly sent out dozen of fireballs at Zhao. Zhao kept backing away. Iroh kept pushing Zhao back until his soldiers came to his rescue. Seeing that this was a time to escape, Zhao decided to run.

"You think we're letting you go!" yelled Naruto as he sprinted towards Zhao.

"Wait!" yelled Aang. Naruto ignored him. To everyone's amazement, he was running on the water of the pond.

'How can he do that!' thought Aang.

'I thought he can only Airbend' thought Sokka.

'Is he bending the water?!' thought Katara. Zhao, in an attempt to stop Naruto, fired several fireballs at him. Naruto dodged all of them and did the same hand signs that Kakashi did when summoning a clone.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" yelled Naruto. Five identical copies of Naruto appeared out of nowhere in a puff of smoke. At this sight, Sokka fainted, Aang, Katara, Yue, and Iroh all had looks of amazement on their faces.

'Is this even still considered bending?' thought Aang. Three Naruto's made their way to Zhao, while the other 3 took care of the rest of Zhao's entourage. Zhao was frightened at the sight of three of the same person coming right at him. He started shooting waves of fire out to keep his opponent, or opponents at bay. They all jumped out of the way of the waves, and one of them threw a kunai at Zhao. It had a red tag on it. It landed a couple of inches away from him. He looked down at it, and all of a sudden, it blew up. This knocked Zhao a couple feet back. Both of Naruto's Shadow Clones ran up to Zhao, who was still on the ground, and grabbed both of his arms so he wouldn't escape. One of them put a kunai up to his neck to threaten him into staying down. The real one walked up to him. The real Naruto had looked over and saw that the three other clones had no problems taking down the other soldiers. With that note, those same three other clones disappeared in puff of smoke.

"What do you think we should do with him?" asked Naruto. Both of his clones looked up at him.

Iroh walked up to him. "It doesn't matter. He isn't the concern now". As if on cue, Zhao moved his hands at an angle where he could hit both of the clones with a blast of fire while they weren't paying attention. He hit them with a small but deadly blast, and it made the both of them disappear in a poof. As Zhao got up, he wondered how that was even possible. However, he decided that it didn't matter and that he had to get away. He quickly shot a wave of fire to keep Naruto and Iroh back, and he ran off.

"What was the point of letting him go! We could've nabbed him and got him to call off this invasion!" yelled Naruto.

"We have bigger problems. With no moon it doesn't matter how much we apprehend Zhao at this point" answered Iroh calmly. He walked over the pond. Naruto walked over with him. Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Yue all looked at him as he came over.

'I must be dreaming right now' thought Sokka. He fainted hysterically as a result of what he had just seen.

'There's just no way he can do all of that' thought Katara.

'How was he able to run right onto the pond?' thought Aang.

'How did he summon exact copies of himself' thought Yue. As they thought this, Iroh knelt down and picked up the white fish, who apparently had a scar on its side from Zhao's attack. It was dead.

"There's no hope now. It's over" said Yue.

"No. It's not over" said Aang suddenly. His tattoos and eyes were glowing.

Naruto looked at him. 'Where did that come from?!' He thought. This sight of Aang sort of spooked him as well. Aang walked right into the pond. He stood right in the middle of it and put his hands together. There was a black fish in the pond and it started circling around Aang. The fish then started to stare right into Aang's eyes, and its eyes started to glow. Everyone looked in amazement as the pond started glowing. Suddenly, it looked as though Aang was pulled right down into the water. The water then started glowing blue. In fact, everywhere in the Northern Water Tribe, water had started glowing blue. The water from the pond then started to move and formed into a giant blue humanoid fish. Right in the center of it was Aang. It started walking away from the group. It walked out of the oasis and right into the village to help the citizens fight off the Fire Nation.

"What did he just do?" questioned Naruto.

"He's in the Avatar State" answered Katara.

"Avatar State?"

"I don't know too much about it… but the Avatar State gives Aang unbelievable power"

"Only he can use it?" asked Naruto.

Katara nodded. "He is the Avatar after all"

"Avatar? So he's supposed to be special or something?"

"Well… yeah. Since he's the Avatar, he has to master all four of the elements and bring peace to the world. To do that, he has to defeat the Firelord and end the 100 year war. When he does defeat him, bring peace, and die, a new Avatar will be born and they'll basically have to do the same thing Aang has to do. Master the elements and continue to bring peace to the world. And you know Zuko? Aang being the Avatar is pretty much the reason why he's been chasing us for weeks"

"Speaking of that Zuko guy, where is he?" Naruto asked.

Katara looked around. She then saw the rope that Aang and Naruto had tied him up in sitting on the ground. No one was bounded up within it. "He must've escaped" Katara said. Then they all looked at the pond with the dead white fish in it.

"What are we gonna do about that?" asked Naruto.

Iroh thought for a moment. He then turned to Yue. "You've been touched with the Moon Spirit. Some of it's life is within you"

"Yes, you're right" replied Yue. "It gave me life… maybe I can give it back". She started walking to the pond. She put her hands on the dead fish. It glowed for a moment, then Yue fainted.

"What did she do?" Naruto asked.

"Exactly what she said" started Iroh. "Her life should now be within the fish. Even within the moon" . Yue's body then started to fade away into nothing. The dead fish in the pond started to glow and the pond itself started to glow. Yue then arose from the pond, however she looked quite different. She was floating from it and she had an angel-like appearance. She gave a sorrowful look at Sokka who was still unconscious.

"Good bye, Sokka" she said. "I'll always be with you". She then started floating towards Sokka and gave him a kiss on the cheek before fading away. The sky and the moon were no longer a black and white color as it now went back to it's original color.

Daytime roared its way in. The Northern Water Tribe looked devastated. Naruto had never seen a village like this. Him, Aang, Katara, and Sokka were all in front of what looked to be a palace.

'Everything looks like it's made outta ice' thought Naruto. 'The bridges, the stairways, everything'. He looked over at Katara. She was talking to an old man who was wearing a parka as well. He had long grey hair. They both motioned for Naruto to walk towards them.

"So is this the boy you found when you went out looking for Aang?" The old man asked. Katara nodded.

Naruto put his hand out to greet the old man. "Naruto Uzumaki"

The old man shook it. "Pakku. Nice to meet you". As they continued talking, Katara walked over to Aang who was standing away from everyone else, looking over the village. Aang turned to look at her and they both stared at each other for a moment. They both then hugged each other. Katara looked over her shoulder and saw a winged black and white lemur fly down to the ground.

"You too Momo" she said motioning for the winged lemur to join in the hug. Momo had lept onto Aang's shoulder. Sokka then walked over to the group, who was followed by Naruto.

"So…" started Naruto.

"So…" started Aang.

"I don't exactly know what this place is. I never even knew a Water Tribe even existed" said Naruto.

"You act as if you aren't even from this world" said Sokka. Naruto thought to himself for a moment. He remembered when he got caught by Madara's Kamui.

"Madara why would you even bring me here?" He murmured under his breath.

"Come again?" Katara questioned.

"Nothing" Naruto replied back.

"Wait. Quick question: Does this Madara person you're talking about just so happens to wear an orange mask?" Aang asked.

"Yeah" said Naruto. "How do you know about him?"

"When I was in the Spirit World, one of the previous Avatars told me that he was lurking about here in the physical world and said that he wasn't alone. I guess that other person is you"

"Spirit World?"

"Since I'm the Avatar, I'm the bridge between the spirit and physical world. The Spirit World is the home of the spirits and I'm obviously the only one that can enter it"

"Oh. Well, anyway, you're right. Madara is the reason why I'm here"

"How did he even bring you here?"

"He teleported me here. He can teleport himself and anything he touches"

"Then I guess it's safe to say that Naruto IS from another world" said Katara.

"That's impossible" Sokka interrupted. "How can he be from another world?"

"Well think about it" Katara cut in. "He didn't know what bending was. He didn't know what an Avatar was, and he didn't even know that there was a war going on. It may sound stupid, but it honestly sounds like the only logical reasoning for him to not know these things"

"Orrrrr, he hit his head really hard on something and lost his memory" said Sokka.

'This guy…' thought an irritated Naruto.

"Sokka he might be" started Aang. "Look at what he's wearing. That doesn't look like something people from this world would wear"

"And on top of that, you saw the way how he fought Zhao" interrupted Katara. "If he isn't a Waterbender, then how can he even walk on water? How can he summon exact copies of himself?"

Sokka sighed. "Those were just magic tricks, and his clothes doesn't explain much. He probably thought of that style himself and designed it that way"

"Oh yeah! How do you explain this symbol on my headband then?! Is it something that you recognize from your world?!" Naruto yelled.

Sokka was quiet for a moment. He was about to say something to back up his claim but then just stomped off in defeat.

"In order to get Naruto back to his world, we just need to need to find Madara. Until then, Naruto can travel with us" said Aang.

"By the way, whatever happened to Yue? All I remember seeing from last night was Naruto facing Zhao and that's it" said Sokka.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Avatar State and The 9 Tails' Power**

As the days passed, Naruto learned a lot about this new setting that he's in. His new friends went over the 4 nations with him and caught him up to speed on what's happened since Katara and Sokka met Aang. The group was sleeping on a boat; Naruto, however seemed to be the only one awake. He wasn't wearing his white cloak anymore.

'Why would Madara even bring me here?' He thought. 'What's even happening in my world…' he was interrupted because he heard something. In his hammock, Naruto turned around and saw Aang tossing and twirling. He was right across from him. 'What's up with him?'. Aang at some point climbed out of his hammock and climbed a ladder that led to the deck. He apparently didn't notice that Naruto was awake and saw him. Naruto decided to follow him. He got out of his hammock and climbed the ladder to get up to the deck. He saw Aang looking out at the sea. He walked over to him. "What's wrong" he said.

"It was nothing" said Aang looking down. "I just had a nightmare"

"About what?"

Aang sighed. "Just me being in the Avatar State" he then stared into the night sky. "I was outside my body watching myself. It was scary. I was scary"

'Just like me and the 9 tails' thought Naruto. He then looked at Aang.

Aang looked up at him. "What?"

"So you can't control the Avatar State yet?"

Aang shook his head. "Not really. It's like the only time I can use it when me or my friends are in danger. Sometimes even when I'm beyond angry". Just then they both heard someone coming up the ladder. It was Katara. She wasn't wearing her parka like she was at the North Pole. She was wearing lighter clothing due to the warmer weather. She was wearing a kimono-like tunic with split ends for easier leg movement. It was lined with white trim. She was rubbing her eyes as she walked over to them.

"What are you two doing up this late?" She asked.

"Nothing. I just couldn't sleep" said Aang.

It was day time. Pakku and a few other Water Tribe members were on the boat with the group. Pakku, like Katara was wearing lighter clothing. He had a bag in his hand.

"Katara" started Pakku. He took out a small cone-shaped amulet. "I want you to have this. This contains water from the Spirit Oasis. The water has unique properties. Don't lose it". He gave the small amulet to her. Katara then gave him a hug, got onto Appa's saddle along with Naruto.

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"It's water from the Spirit Oasis back at the North Pole" Katara explained. "Master Pakku told me that it has special properties"

"What like healing?"

"I guess you could say that. It's probably useful for lethal wounds. I can already heal non-lethal ones"

"You can heal wounds through Waterbending? I guess that's supposed to function like Medical Ninjutsu"

Katara looked at him. "Medical Ninjutsu?"

"Just like how you heal people here with Waterbending, people in my world heal people through Medical Ninjutsu. It's the same thing pretty much, it's just that in my world people are using chakra instead of water". Just then, Aang and Sokka both hopped up onto Appa after they were done talking to Pakku. Sokka was also wearing lighter clothes for the warm weather. Like Pakku and Katara, he wore a kimono-like tunic, however, his was sleeveless. He also wore dark blue pants and brown boots. He also had bandages around his arms.

"Fly straight to the Earth Kingdom east of here" said Pakku. "General Fong will provide you an escort to Omashu. There you'll be safe to begin your Earthbending training with King Bumi".

"Yip-yip!" yelled Aang whipping Appa's reigns. They then took off.

They journey to General Fong's base was a long one.

"What does the Earth Kingdom look like?" asked Naruto. Sokka took out a map that looked to be a bit outdated and gave it Naruto.

"It's a bit outdated but this should give you a general idea of how the world looks like. The red areas are Fire Nation territory, the two blue areas are Water Tribe, the grayish areas are the Air Temples and that big beige area is the Earth Kingdom" he explained.

Aang crawled onto the saddle with the rest of the group. "I'm from the Southern Air Temple; it's right over here. It's right next to the where Katara and Sokka are from" He pointed to the Southern Air Temple, which was right next to the Southern Water Tribe.

"Wow. Everything actually looks… spaced out compared to my world" said a mesmerized Naruto.

"Spaced out?" Katara asked.

"In my world, all of the different nations more or less are all bunched up on one continent" Naruto explained.

"So you're telling us that where you're from, it's all on like what?... A super continent?" Sokka asked.

Naruto nodded. "In my world, there are five nations. The Land of Fire, The Land of Lightning, The Land of Wind, The Land of Water, and The Land of Earth. This symbol on my headband lets people know that I'm a shinobi from the Land of Fire. In the Land of Fire, I'm specifically from a village known as the Hidden Leaf"

"So the lands in your world pretty much share the same name as the one's here. The only difference is that you guys have a land named after lightning" Katara stated.

"So can other people in your world do that duplicating self thing that you did on Zhao?" Aang asked. Naruto nodded. For the remainder of the ride, Naruto explained to them all of the different jutsus in his world and how they worked and how they were activated.

The group continued to fly. No one has said anything for the rest of the ride. Sokka looked over Appa's saddle, slowly getting impatient. A grin had crept over his face when he saw the base.

"There it is!" He exclaimed. The base was situated in a mountain range. In the center of the base was a tower. The base also had a wall surrounding it. Appa flew down and landed in front of a tall muscular man who had soldiers standing right behind him. They all were bare footed. The tall man that stood in front of them had a brown beard and had brown long hair that was tied in a bun. Like the soldiers behind him, he wore a light green shirt and wore light green pants underneath his green Earth Kingdom armor. Unlike the rest of the guards, he wore a green cape. The guards wore a green pointed hat.

"Welcome!" said the man with the cape. "Avatar Aang, I am General Fong" he bowed his head and brought it back up. "And welcome to all of you, great heroes! Appa, Momo, Brave Sokka, The Mighty Katara, and…" he paused due to the fact that he didn't know what to say about Naruto. Let alone, he didn't even know who Naruto was.

"The Great Naruto Uzumaki?" Naruto finished for him.

"Yes! You too!" Fong exclaimed. Suddenly, fireworks started shooting into the sky. This was followed by soldiers stomping on the ground, and shooting rocks into the air.

'So that's what Earthbending looks like' thought Naruto.

The group was lead into what looked like Fong's Main Hall. There were support pillar with green crystals light up the room. Fong was sitting behind a desk with the Earth Kingdom symbol right behind it.

"Avatar Aang" Fong started. "We were all amazed at the stories of how you single-handedly wiped out an entire Fire Navy fleet at the North Pole. I can't imagine what it feels like to wield such devastating power. It's an awesome responsibility"

'Not as awesome as you think it is' Naruto thought as he put his hand on his stomach.

Aang shrugged his shoulders. "Ehh, It's what I do"

"Because of this, you're now ready to face the Firelord" said Fong.

"What!" Aang had a look of horror on his face. How could he be ready to face the Firelord now? He hasn't even learned how to Earthbend or Firebend yet. "No I'm not"

"I thought Aang had to learn the other two elements first" said Naruto.

"He does" Katara answered. She then turned her attention to Fong. "Why are you in such a hurry to even just throw him out into the battle field like that. As the Avatar, Aang needs to learn the four elements"

"What's the point in waiting around for that to happen?" Fong question. "The three of you have seen him in action. He can just take out whatever the Fire Nation has to throw at him in minutes. That includes the Firelord"

"But he has to actually _BE_ in the Avatar State for that to happen" Sokka cut in.

"I'm aware. He'll be put into the Avatar State and attack the Fire Nation from there" Fong shot back.

"But I don't even know how to control it" Aang said. "And I don't even know what to do when I'm in it either"

"I'll help you find out how to get into the Avatar State. Then, we'll put you on the front lines" Fong stated.

Katara stood up angrily. "We have a plan already! Aang is gonna do this _his_ way!"

"Well, while you're taking you time learning the elements, the war still goes on" Fong stated. "May I show you something?" He motioned for Aang to come with him. They both walked towards a window that had a view of some soldiers walking out of a building. A lot of them looked injured. "That's the infirmary, and these soldiers are lucky they came back. Everyday the Fire Nation takes lives, people are dying Aang. You could end it. Now, think about it. Think about, the pain… that century long pain that the Fire Nation have inflicted on to the world. What you do right here, and right now could easily bring long-awaited peace to the world"

Later that night, Naruto, Sokka, and Katara were escorted to the room that they would be sleeping in that night.

"I can't believe that guy!" Exclaimed an angry Katara. "Why is he so bent on throwing Aang out there like that. There's better ways for us to go about this and this just isn't it"

"Well he did have a point" said Sokka. "The sooner Aang controls the Avatar State, the sooner this war will be over"

"Sokka, I just feel like this isn't the right way" Katara calmed herself.

Naruto thought to himself as the two siblings kept going back and forth. Part of him thought that General Fong's plan would be worth a try. If it was going to stop the war, then why question it. However, part of him was going against that. Aang not having control over the Avatar State reminded him of himself and his past struggles with the 9 tails. What if Aang couldn't control himself in that state?

"Naruto!" Someone interrupted his train of thought. It was Katara. "What do you think?" She then shot Sokka a dirty look. "Shouldn't Aang just be patient and take his time because clearly we have two people who aren't thinking straight"

"Hey, just saying" Sokka walked over to his bed and layed down. "This might be the quickest way to end the war"

"Well I…" Naruto was interrupted by someone walking through the door. It was Aang. He sat down on his bed.

"I told the General that I'd help him by going into the Avatar State" Aang had his head down when he said this.

"Aang. Please don't. This isn't right. You need to learn the elements first" Katara spoke up.

"Katara, he had a point. People are probably suffering right now as we speak and me doing this will end the war as soon as possible" Aang replied.

'See! He gets it!" Sokka exclaimed.

"I think we should just wait and see what happens" Naruto said. Everyone looked at him. "One part of me thinks this might actually work. I don't know much about the Avatar State as much as the next guy, but this might be the quickest way to end the war. The other part of me thinks this might be a bad idea. Aang told me he can't even control the Avatar State so who's to say that he might accidentally hurt people that he doesn't mean to hurt. The Avatar State's power is awesome and all but it's a huge burden to carry if you can't even control it"

"You talk like you know what it's like" Aang spoke up. He still had his head down. "Having everyone rely on you to end an entire war that's been going on for a century. Having people chase after you like you have a bounty on your head…"

"Actually I do" Naruto interrupted. "I haven't been in a situation where the whole world relied on me, but I know how it feels to be constantly hunted down and to have great power"

"How?" Aang questioned.

Naruto continued. "It's because I have a 9-tailed demon fox that was sealed inside of me by my dad since I was a baby! It's chakra is amazing and it grants me a lot of power, but I can't even control it! Hell, one time I accidentally hurt one of my friends when I used it's power and started rampaging! In my world, I'm what you call a Jinchuriki. There's even this one group that's been chasing me around, which Madara happens to be the leader of! One of them even destroyed my entire village looking for me! That isn't even the worst part! When someone who has a tailed beast gets caught by Madara, or anyone else associated with him, they get their tailed beast taken away from them and then they die!". The room was silent. Everyone needed time to process what they had just heard.

'9 tailed fox?' Katara thought.

'How did his dad even manage to seal something like that in him' Sokka thought.

'If they're chasing him around, why would Madara even bring him here?' Aang thought.

"You're not the only one who has been through hell, Aang" Naruto continued. "This fox sealed inside of me has brought me years of loneliness. When I was younger, people would treat me like dirt. They didn't want me around their kids and they would even try everything in their power to get me to leave the village and never come back. This was all because the 9 tails attacked my village before my dad sealed it in me. The 9 tails even has a mind of its own. It does everything in its power to try and get me to use its power so it can take over my body and get out from its prison"

"That's horrible" Katara said. "How could your own village even treat you like that?"

Aang sighed. "I'm sorry, ok? I'm just stressed out over this"

"Oh good! Now we have two people with incredible power" Sokka started. "Ending this war should be a piece of cake now!"

"Sokka, did even hear a word of what Naruto just said?!" Katara exclaimed. She was irritated by her brother now. "He can't even control the 9 tailed fox and he even said that he hurt one of his friends while using it's power! If we were to just throw him on out into the field and force him to use it, what if the 9 tails starts to take control and hurt us in the process?"

"I won't be able to use that much of the 9 tails chakra anyway" Naruto added. "Recently when I used it's chakra, I went on another rampage. My dad set a jutsu on me to where he'd appear in my psyche before I fully transformed into the 9 tails. When he did, he rebuilt the seal he set on me to keep the 9 tails locked in place"

"Wait, so it almost ran loose the last time you used it's power?" Sokka asked.

Naruto nodded. "Over the years, it's like the more frequently I used it's power, the closer I was to transforming into it completely"

"Now do you see why it's a stupid idea to send Naruto out there while using the 9 tails power?" Katara asked Sokka.

"We probably won't even need to use the 9 tails at all. Did you see the way he handled Zhao?! Speaking of that, it would be nice if I could learn how to do whatever Naruto was doing. If I could we wouldn't even need to worry about the Fire Nation" Sokka replied.

Katara just gave a sigh and walked over to her bed. "Whatever. I still think it's just stupid sending anyone out there to the Fire Nation. And whatever you do, please don't tell the General about this. It's bad enough he's trying to throw Aang out there, we don't need him doing the same to Naruto". Just outside the room, two guards happened to hear every word that was uttered about the 9 tails and it's power. They were patrolling the area when they happened to hear the words "great power" uttered from Naruto's mouth. As subjects of General Fong, they both decided to go to the Main Hall and report their newfound information.

The next day, General Fong tried various methods to get Aang to trigger the Avatar State. He tried having him drink 'chi-enhancing' tea, which failed. They then tried to scare him into the Avatar State, and that failed too. Naruto even tried using his Sexy Jutsu on Aang and even that failed. After all of these failures, they decided to give it a rest for the day. Soon, it was night again and as they all slept, Aang was having another nightmare of him being in the Avatar State. Because of this nightmare, it made him think twice about whether or not he was really up to this plan. As this was happening, General Fong paced back and forth in the Main Hall, wondering what he should do next. The same two guards that eavesdropped on the group the night before came in the doorway.

"So I've been thinking lately" Fong started. "Since the Avatar is proving to be stubborn with releasing his power, tomorrow we should try to pressure that Naruto kid"

"Sir, but you've seen how we've failed at getting the Avatar to access the Avatar State" said one guard. "How do you think making his friend access this 9 tails state will workout?"

"Obviously by force" replied Fong.

"But… sir" started the other guard. "He said that he'd go on rampages when in that state"

"It's a risk we might have to take. You two told me that according to him he practically had the power to take out villages. That's enough power to take down the Fire Nation. I know this plan might backfire on us but what choice do we have? A century long war that consists of one nation overpowering the other three. Now that we have immense power, that of the Avatar AND this newcomer on our doorstep, why would you let this pass up. We not only have the power to stop the Fire Nation, but we also have the power to keep them in check. I'd thought you two would be on the same page as me by now"

"...Understood sir"

The next day, there was a knock at the group's door. Katara answered it and it was a guard.

"Avatar Aang, Naruto Uzumaki. General Fong would like to have a word with the both of you" he said.

Aang looked up at him. "Good. I needed to talk to him about something anyway".

Katara gave the guard a look. "It's understandable why he'd to speak with Aang, but what does he want with Naruto?"

The guard took a second to think. "He… heard about Naruto's performance against Admiral Zhao during the attack on the Northern Water Tribe over the past couple of days. He was wondering if Naruto would be interested in being part of the war". There was dead silence in the room as Katara gave the guard a cold stare. With this, the guard escorted Aang and Naruto out off the room and shut the door.

"So uh… care to explain that look on your face?" asked Sokka.

"Something about that guard… it just felt off" Katara replied. "I just don't trust this situation at all " She started walking to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To see what's really going on. General Fong's reasoning for wanting to talk to Naruto… it just feels like there's more to it. He wasn't interested in Naruto before but he is now"

"Well… lead the way"

The siblings made the walk over to the Main Hall where General Fong was speaking to Aang and Naruto. They opened the door just a tad bit as they saw that there were two guards with spears standing in front of the door. They listened closely to the conversation.

"I see" started General Fong. "You don't want to go through with this anymore?"

Aang nodded his head. "I don't think we'll be able to trigger it on purpose. I can only go in it when my friends or myself are in general danger"

"I was afraid you'd say that" said General Fong. He stood up. Catching them off guard, General Fong punched his desk towards Aang and Naruto. The moving desk hit them, and continuously pushed them until it had hit a wall. This ended up busting a gaping hole in the wall, this leading to Aang and Naruto plummeting into the ground of the main courtyard.

"Aang! Naruto!" exclaimed Katara as she bursted through the doors to not only save her friends but to thwart whatever General Fong was up to.

"Katara, wait!" yelled Sokka as he ran after his sister. The room was full of guards and he felt that this was the wrong time to play hero. As they ran towards General Fong, 2 guards impeded their way by grabbing them. They both struggled to break free of the guards' grip as they saw General Fong walk towards the giant hole that was self-carved by himself, into Aang and Naruto's view.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" shouted Naruto. "What was the point of this?!"

"The both of you are harboring tremendous power!" General Fong shouted back. "Tremendous power that can end this war today if we needed it to and I _WILL_ force it out of the both of you!"

"The both of you?" asked Aang. He turned to Naruto. "I think he knows about the 9 tails!".

General Fong had jumped into the courtyard. "Guards! Attack them both and do NOT let up!". As he said this, a deluge of guards started to come right out of the building behind him. From all directions, the guards started shooting large Earth Kingdom symbol shaped projectiles at Aang and Naruto; both started to evading these projectiles.

"This has gone on long enough!" exclaimed Naruto. He crossed his index fingers as he jumped up in the air. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!". 3 clones appeared in a puff of smoke and sprang themselves right into the action. One of the clones decided to handle General Fong, and the other ones went after the guards. The clone that went for General Fong sprinted towards him, then jumped up with his fist at ready so he could get a good jab in at the General's face. The General ducked down, thus clasping his hands on the ground, causing a mass of earth to shoot up in the air. This made the clone dissipate.

'So one hit causes those things to disappear' thought Fong. Just then he saw two kunais with red tags attached to their handles that were thrown at his feet by one of the clones. Thinking the clone had terrible aim, General looked up with a condescending look on his face. This looked was wiped off when he saw the smoke coming from the tags while they were beginning to glow. Quickly, he bended the earth around him to form a wall to protect him from the kunais that were about to detonate. The explosion pushed General Fong back a couple of feet thus crumbling the wall he had just made. Then suddenly, he saw a clone try to pounce on him with a kunai in hand. Promptly, General Fong grabbed the clone by its arm and flipped it over his shoulder using the clones own body weight against itself. As it fell to the ground, it disappeared in a poof. Quickly, both the real Naruto and the last clone that was left decided to handle General Fong up close and personal. Taking care to evade incoming projectiles as they sprinted towards him. Meanwhile with Aang, he tried his best to evade the incoming projectiles as he was bent on not fight anyone.

Meanwhile with Katara and Sokka, they both still continued to have trouble with getting out of the guards' grip, as they were being escorted by a group of 4 guards down a hallway so that they can be thrown into a cell. Their weapons were also confiscated, making it even more difficult for them to fight back. Fortunately for them, as they were passing a vase full of water, Katara managed to get one of her arms free and with a quick jolt she bended the water towards the face of the guard that was holding her. This caused that guard to let go of her, thus causing Katara to quickly take him down by bending the water into a whip. She took down Sokka's captor the same way. The two guards that were left stood their ground as they tried to attack the siblings. Fortunately these same two guards weren't Earthbenders as they were carrying spears with them. Still bending the water from the vase, Katara used the same technique to handle these guards. One of them tried to impale her with their spear, however she dodged this and with a quick jolt of her arms, the snap of the water whip came crashing down on the guard. She then proceeded to take down the other guard by bending the water over to his spear and immediately disarming him. She then proceeded to take him down.

Meanwhile, Naruto still continued to struggle with General Fong and Aang was still evading the guards. As a sneak attack, General Fong laid his body flat on the ground and quickly disappeared.

Naruto frowned. "Where'd he go?". The next thing he knew, he felt someone's arms grab hold of him from behind and put him in a choke hold. He looked back and saw that it was none other than General Fong himself. He could feel the general's arm tighten around his throat.

"This will all end if you just demonstrate to us at least a sliver of this 9 tail's power". Just then, something hit General Fong in the neck; something sharp and made of metal. This caused him to let go of Naruto, who quickly kicked him in the face before he jumped back to get some distance. He looked around and saw two figures standing where the gaping hole in the wall of the main hall was. It was Katara and Sokka, who stuck out his hand and had his boomerang almost on cue, flew right into it. Both siblings ran out of the hall as they were trying to find a way down to get to the action. As this happened, Naruto began his counterattack against the general. Two clones had sprinted up to him, got on the ground and kicked him up into the air. This was followed by another clone kicking General Fong into the air higher, and another one kicking him even higher. Because the sun was blinding his eyes, General Fong couldn't see the figure that was above him. All he heard was "Uzumaki Barrage" before he felt a foot clasped right on him, causing him to come crashing down right into the ground. As Naruto and his clones landed onto the ground, they saw General Fong struggling to get up. Blood was leaking from his nose and forehead. Naruto's clones dissipated and the real one walked up to him.

"It's over. How about we just stop fighting a come up with a _REAL_ way to stop the war" said Naruto as he stuck his hand out for General Fong to grab it. With a smirk creeping on his face, General Fong quickly leapt back to gain some distance. Naruto stood there; at this point he knew he would have to subdue General Fong to get him to stop. Determined on ending this commotion where it started, Naruto once again sprinted towards General Fong. Anticipating that he was going to exactly that, General Fong twisted his wrist in an upwards motion, causing Naruto to sink knee deep into the ground as he was softening the ground. General Fong then dug his arms into the ground, causing the surrounding earth to cover his arm. He ran up to Naruto and started punching with, using his earth covered both arms to increase the brunt of his punches.

"Naruto!" exclaimed Aang as he still continued to avoid and evade the projectiles being thrown at him. He started leaping towards Naruto and General Fong. Out of his peripheral vision, General Fong saw the young Airbender coming towards him through his peripheral vision and promptly stomped his foot on the ground. This caused a stalagmite of earth to stick up from the ground, this caught Aang off guard as it hit him back. Katara and Sokka even tried to intervene in Naruto's beating. This proved futile when, like with Naruto, he ended up softening the ground causing them both to stop in their tracks. They both tried to move their feet with herculean effort but that proved to be useless. Using this as an opening, Naruto decided to land a punch on General Fong. The minute General Fong turned back around to deal more blows onto Naruto, he was met with the Jinchuriki's fist. As soon as Naruto was going to deal another blow, General Fong ducked and hit Naruto with a straight uppercut. He continued his relentless barrage of attacks on Naruto. However, something caught his eye. He caught a glimpse of the teenage ninja's eyes immediately going from blue to crimson. His pupils went from a regular circle to to a more vertical shape; like that of a fox. His whiskers seemed to be much thicker than usual, and as he was gritting his teeth, they looked so much sharper. General Fong tried to take another jab at Naruto, but to his surprise Naruto quickly blocked this. He then felt just only a sliver of the 9 tail's wrath when Naruto punched him. However this wasn't like any other blow he took from Naruto. As Naruto's fist collided with General Fong's face, he felt a couple teeth fly out of his mouth as his body ricocheted to the far wall. The guards ran over to see if their leader was OK. He was out cold. They all turned around to look at Naruto with great terror. With this, the guards decided that this went on far enough. One of them bended Naruto's legs out of the ground and one of them bended Katara and Sokka's feet from the ground.

With this the group decided to just pack their things up and load up on Appa. They didn't say a word to General Fong since the events that took place earlier.

"You guys sure that you don't need an escort to Omashu?" one of the guards asked.

"I think we'll manage" said Katara as she gave him a sharp look. WIth that, they took off into the air.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Return to Omashu**

"So what's Omashu like?" asked Naruto.

"Omashu is one of the most powerful cities in the Earth Kingdom" answered Sokka.

"And it has large mail chutes that are fun to slide down on" Aang added. "I need to show you once we get there". They were in the middle of flying to Omashu. It had been a few days since their rocky encounter with General Fong.

"That's nice, but remember, we're there to find Bumi so that Aang can be taught how to Earthbend" Katara said.

"Speaking of Bumi, you're gonna love him when you meet him!" exclaimed Aang.

"No you're not" Sokka whispered towards Naruto. As they flew on, they saw a cloud of smoke peer over the mountains. When they were over the mountains, they all gasped. They were at Omashu however, it wasn't like the Omashu that Aang, Katara, and Sokka had been to before Naruto's arrival into their world. "Oh no…". Just at the base of the city, which happened to be the gate, it was made out of metal. It circled around the city and it had a giant red cloth hanging right in front of it. It had a Fire Nation logo on it. The city itself had a resemblance to a mountain. There were three small mountains inside the gate with rows of buildings and slides. There was an even bigger mountain behind those and it with even more building and mail chutes. The city didn't look as lively as when Aang, Sokka, and Katara went there for the first time. It looked sort of… grey. It looked grey and depressing, especially with the large clouds of smoke protruding from it. They landed on a nearby mountain and got off Appa.

"I can't believe this…" said Aang.

"Sokka, I thought Omashu was one of the most powerful cities in the Earth Kingdom" Naruto said.

"It is. Or at least it was" Sokka then sighed. "Now Ba Sing Se is the only strong-hold left in the Earth Kingdom"

"This is horrible" Katara said with deep sympathy. "But we have to move on"

"No" Aang challenged. "We have to find Bumi. He's my friend"

"Aang no" Sokka intervened. "We don't even know if Bumi's still…" he hesitated.

Aang turned to him. 'What? He's still what?"

"A-around" Sokka finished. He looked away from the Airbender.

"I think we should do what Aang says" Naruto spoke up. Everyone looked at him. "What's wrong with taking a chance. After all, this Bumi guy might still be in the city."

"But what if he isn't" Katara managed. 'We might as well find Aang a new Earthbending teacher. Besides do you really think Bumi would just hand the city over?"

"A wise person once told me that those who break the rules are scum. But those who abandon their friends are even worse than that" Naruto shot back. "If Bumi's a friend of Aang's then he's a friend of you guys too. I don't know about you guys but if I were you, I'd at least check things out first because I don't want to be any worse than scum. Hell, for all you know the Fire Nation could just be holding him somewhere". Katara and Sokka didn't say anything. Not one word.

"Then it's settled" Aang said. They all got back on Appa and flew towards the city. "I know a secret way into the city"

The secret passage was a sewage tunnel. They all had gotten off Appa and Aang had told him to go hide somewhere. Before he did, he grabbed his staff so that he could prop the lid off of the sewage tunnel. Also, Katara and Sokka had put on black cloaks and Katara asked Naruto to put on his white one so that they could hide their identities as much as possible.

"A secret passage?" asked Sokka. "Why didn't we use this last time?". Sewage water spilled out of the tunnel once Aang had propped open the lid.

"Does that answer your question?" asked Aang. He then crawled right into the tunnel, followed by Katara, Naruto, and Sokka. To avoid getting sewage water and whatever else just so happened to be floating around in the tunnel, Aang moved his staff in a circular motion, creating a mini shield of air. Katara bended the water out of the way, and Naruto created a Rasengan to sort of do the same thing that Aang was doing. While his companions had come up with ways to stay dry, Sokka couldn't. He was the only one getting drenched. Once they reached the end of the tunnel, and what they believed to be the lid they would lead to the street, Aang propped open the lid using a gust of air so that he could pick it up slightly so that he could see if the coast was clear. Once he was sure it was clear, he moved the lid aside and jumped out. Katara and Naruto both climbed out. It was dark outside. Naruto looked around. He had never seen anything like this before. He looked at the all of the various chutes that towered above him.

'So these were the chutes that Aang was talking about' he thought to himself.

"Impressive right?" said Aang as he walked up to Naruto. "We rode these in the winter when we first came here"

"I've gotta try that!" Naruto exclaimed. Just then Sokka climbed out of the sewage tunnel, however he was completely covered in sewage slime. In a zombie-like motion, he walked over towards the rest of the group. With quick thinking, Katara had bended water from a barrel that happened to be next to her and drenched Sokka. This washed the slime off of him, and then Aang swung a blast of air towards him to dry him off. Aang, Katara, and Naruto all looked at him for a moment. There were three small creature on his face that resembled octopuses. The small creatures had five tentacles. "Ummm… Sokka?"

"What?" he asked.

"There's a… something on your face". Sokka began to feel on his face. It felt like two lumps to him. He began to scream as he tried to pull the small creatures off of his face.

"They won't let go! HELP!" Sokka exclaimed. Aang had to tackle him to get him to settle down.

"Stop making so much noise" Aang said smiling. "It's just a purple Pentapus". He put his hand on one of them and used his finger to tickle it. This made it loosen its grip on Sokka's face and it got right of of his face. It left red dots on Sokka's face however. Sokka had gotten another Pentapus off of his neck, which also happened to leave red dots.

"Hey!" said a voice. The four of them looked over and saw a trio of Fire Nation soldiers. "What are you kids doing out past curfew?" one of them asked. As one of them said that, Katara and Sokka had stood in front of Aang momentarily so that he could cover up his arrow with red cloth. Two of the soldiers had a grey robe underneath their armor and even had on helmets with sharp tips on the end of them. Unlike the soldiers they've encountered at the North Pole, with the exception of the third soldier, theses two had spears had they didn't have on a white mask to cover their faces.

"Sorry" spoke Katara. "We were just on our way home". The group then turned around and tried to walk away. However, the soldiers stopped them.

"Wait" one of the soldiers said. "What's wrong with him?". He had his attention set on the red dots on the back of Sokka's neck. They all turned back around.

"Uhh" Katara hesitated.

"Uhh… well… you see he's a… sick sir" Naruto spoke up.

"Yeah… yeah he's really sick. He has um…. Pentapox" Katara added. "From the Pentapi"

WIth quick thinking, Sokka decided to sell it by acting like he was ill. "Uhhh, it's so awful, I'm dying". He walked towards them in a zombie-like way.

"It's contagious and even deadly" Katara added. The soldiers all had frightened looks on their faces.

"I think I've heard of Pentapox!" one of them said. They all started to back away as Sokka kept walking closer and closer to them. Soon they all succumb to the fear of catching Pentapox and all ran away from him. When the coast was clear, Naruto fell back laughing.

"Those morons looked like they were gonna piss themselves!" he laughed.

The group began to search the city. At some point they made it to a mail chute station made up of metal, and construction work just so happened to be taking place there. They hid next to a stack of metal boards to hide from view.

"Let's find Bumi and get out of here" said Katara.

"I can use my shadow clones to make this go by faster" said Naruto.

"I don't think that's a good idea" Sokka started. "At least for now that is. Summoning too many clones might end up making the Fire Nation suspicious since not too many people are supposed to be out here right now"

Naruto sighed. "Then I'll just make two". He put his fingers together to form the handsign. In a poof, two clones appeared and they quickly moved along so that they wouldn't get caught. The group then got out of their cover and moved along the metal mail chute system. As they ran, they saw two huge builders sliding down the metal chutes. They were heading towards another group of people that happened to be walking right into its path.

"Those guys will get crushed!" exclaimed Naruto as he pulled out a kunai with a piece of paper attached to it. He threw it at the boulders and once it made contact with them, they blow up. This happened just before the boulders were just seconds away from striking their targets. This obviously got the boulder targets' attention. There were four Fire Nation soldiers and each of them were carrying lamps. There was also a girl that looked to be around Naruto and Sokka's age and she wore a red robe. She had silky black hair that was tied into two pigtails. There was an older woman holding a baby and she wore a red gown with a reddish short sleeved coat. She had gray hair had it was tied into a bun and her face was framed with bangs just like the teenage girl. The teenage girl squinted her eyes as she looked at Naruto and his three other companions above.

"The Resistance!" shouted the older woman. Almost on cue, the teenage girl shot what looked like miniature arrows at Naruto. Naruto pulled out a kunai and he used it to deflect all of the incoming projectiles. The group began to run as they saw the soldier climbing up a ladder so that they could get to them. At some point, Katara turned around and bended the water from her pouch and sent it towards the guards chasing them. This ended up hitting the guards down to where they had just came from. The teenage girl climbed the ladder and shot the arrow projectiles at Katara, who quickly turned the water into a shield of ice so that she wouldn't be hit. She then turned and ran as the Fire Nation teen kept chasing after her.

"Go on guys" said Naruto. "I got this!"

"Be careful!" yelled Sokka as him Aang and Katara continued to run.

"Don't worry" Naruto assured as he pulled out another kunai with a paper bomb attached to it. He throw it at a stack of metal boards and the girl clearly didn't notice. Once she ran passed the metal boards, they blew up. Nothing but smoke was in the place where the girl had just been before the bomb went off. As this happened, Naruto ran towards the group.

"You just killed her?!" asked Aang. To answer the question, a arrow flew right in Aang's direction. Aang ducked just in time only for it to graze him a bit on the side of his head and tear off the piece of cloth he wore to hide his arrow tattoo.

As the smoke cleared a bit where the girl had just been, the girl was in fact alive. Her clothes were a bit burned and she had some scratches on her face. It was clear enough to where she was able to roughly make out the tattoo on Aang's forehead. Her eyes widened in surprise. 'The Avatar?' she thought to herself. The group had just so happened to be standing right on a trap door. Which opened at the last second, thus causing them to fall right into it.

The group was in some underground hideout. They were surrounded by people wearing green robes, shirts and pants. The place was lit up by green crystal-like substances.

"W- who are you guys!?" asked Sokka.

"We are the Resistance" said a man who had a beard and had on a conical hat. "One day we're going to take back Omashu from the Fire Nation".

"Why bring us down here?" asked Aang.

"I saw what was happening and you all fought against the Fire Nation" the man answered. He looked at Aang's tattoos. "I figured we could trust you. Especially since you're the Avatar"

"Is King Bumi with you guys?". There was a long silence. Aang decided to ask another question. "Is he leading the Resistance?"

"Of course not!" exclaimed the man. "The day they invaded us, we readied ourselves for battle. We were prepared to defend our city, to fight for our lives and for our freedom. But before we even had a chance, King Bumi surrendered" There was a surprised look on the group's faces.

"Wait so he gave up without a fight?" asked Naruto. The man nodded.

'Why would he just surrender like that?' Aang thought to himself.

"The day of the invasion, we asked King Bumi what he wanted to do" the man continued. "He looked me in the eye and said he was going to do nothing. It doesn't matter now. Fighting the Fire Nation is the only path to freedom, and freedom is worth dying for"

"Actually there's another path to freedom" Aang spoke up. "You could leave Omashu. You're directing all your energy to fight the Fire Nation, but you're outnumbered. You can't win. Now's the time to retreat so you could live to fight another day"

"You don't understand. They've taken our homes, and we have to fight them at any cost!"

"I don't know Yung" interrupted another man. "Fighting another day is starting to sound pretty good to me"

"Yeah, I'm with the kid" said another man. Everyone in the Resistance nodded with agreement.

Yung sighed. "But how are you get the thousands of citizens out of Omashu?". There was a moment of silence as everyone thought of possible ways to get everyone out.

"Suckers!" exclaimed Sokka.

'What kind of plan is that!?" exclaimed Naruto.

"Hold on, hold on, hear me out. You're all about to come up with a nasty case of Pentapox"

The next day at around noon, the citizens of the city got together and rounded up a lot of Pentapi from the sewer. They put the Pentapi in various places on their faces and took them off, each leaving its mark on their faces. Also, Naruto was off to the side speaking with the clones about whether or not they found King Bumi. Apparently, they didn't. Both clones then just poofed away. Aang had been wearing another hat to hide his arrow tattoo from anyone else in Omashu. It was bad enough that one person from the Fire Nation had gotten a glimpse of it.

"The marks make you look sick, but you gotta sell it" said Sokka. "Everyone! Get into sick formation". The citizens started walking off, trying their best to look as sick as possible. Just then, Aang started walking off in the opposite direction.

"What are you doing?" asked Katara. "Aren't you coming with us?"

"No, I'm not leaving until I find Bumi" Aang stated.

Naruto walked up. "I'll help too"

"You're not coming either?" asked Katara.

Naruto shook his head. "We'll be able to find Bumi a lot faster if there's two of us"

"Ok. Then you two go find Bumi while Sokka and I help the citizens leave" said Katara as she walked off. With this, Naruto and Aang splitted up. Aang leapt onto a rooftop and started combing the city. Naruto did the same in the opposite direction.

Naruto knew that he would most likely find Bumi before Aang would. Since he has the ability to have linked memory with his clones, he can easily just skip over the places that they've checked. However, he was still unable to even find him. Where could they possibly be holding Bumi? As he landed on top of a building, he stopped to recollect his thoughts.

He sighed. "Where would the Fire Nation even keep this guy? I wish there was an easier way to track him…" Naruto paused. There is an easier way to track Bumi down. He sat down and crossed his legs. He closed his eyes as if he was about to meditate. Moments later, orange pigment formed around his eyes and on his eyelids. He opened his eyes, however they weren't blue like they once were. They were golden and the pupils in his eyes looked similar to a frog's. "Now that I'm in Sage Mode, I should be able to sense his chakra or chi or whatever". He looked around. "There!". He leapt towards the direction of where he was sensing Bumi's chi. It was coming from the highest point of the city.

When he got there, there was a small metal shed. It was heavily guarded. He was standing on top of a building that overlooked the area. He got out of Sage Mode so that he could conserve chakra. "I probably don't even need Sage Mode anymore for now". He then cupped his hands over his mouth. "Hey Fire Nation guys!". They all looked up towards him.

"Get out of here kid! No one is allowed here!" one of them yelled back.

"I will after I get what I came for!". Naruto then jumped off of the building. He then rushed towards the guards.

"Oh so you wanna fight?!" one of the guards exclaimed. He ran up to Naruto and attempted to spear him with his spear. However, this was futile. Naruto dodged the incoming attack and punched the guard right in his face. The guard fell back.

"Get him!" another guard yelled. A gang of guards rushed towards Naruto, spears in hand.

Naruto put his fingers together. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

'What the…" said another guard. Naruto and his clones sprang into action. One jumped up and pummeled a guard on his way down. Another one punched a guard in his face. Another one kicked one in his face. One by one, guards were being taken down left and right. Before one knew it, there were only two soldiers left.

"This guy is a freak!" one of them exclaimed. They were both clearly scared out of their minds. "Let's get out of here! I'd much rather deal with the Fire Lord than this!". They both ran off. Naruto grinned as his clones dissipated. Well all except one. The clone walked up to the original. They were about to bust down the large metal door to the shed.

"Bumi must be in there" The clone said. The original Naruto held out one of his hands towards the clone. The clone started moving its hands in a circular motion around the original's hand. They both were forming a blue spiralling orb. The clone disappeared and Naruto ran up to the door with the blue swirling orb in hand.

"Rasengan!" he yelled. The Rasengan touched the door. It was drilling right through it, then it burst open. In the shed there was nothing more but a metal coffin standing up, holding an old man. He had a white beard and had liver spots all over his face. His teeth looked crooked and he had dark wrinkles under his eyes. "You must be King Bumi"

"How on earth do you know my name?!" Bumi asked.

"Doesn't matter. I'm busting ya outta here so you can teach Aang how to Earthbend"

"Ahhh…. So you know Aang. And he decided to pay me a visit" Bumi said with a smile on his face.

"Yeah" said Naruto as he walked over to Bumi. "Where's the lock on this thing?"

"As much as I'd like to see Aang… I… CAN'T" Bumi started laughing uncontrollably.

Naruto stared at him for a moment. "What's funny?"

"I can't go now"

Naruto had a confused look on his face. "What do you mean you can't go now?!"

"Now's not the time"

"What do you mean 'Now's not the time'? Aang needs a teacher to teach him if he's gonna save the world!"

"Now's not the time because it just isn't the right moment"

Naruto slumped over. 'What the hell is this guy talking about?' he thought. After twenty more minutes of trying to convince Bumi to come with him, he got an idea. He sat right back down and meditated so he could use Sage Mode to find Aang. Once he did, he turned to Bumi and told him he'd be back.

As Naruto leapt through the city, he was picking up Aang's chi, which had at some point started moving quickly all over the city. When he caught up to Aang he that he was riding on a great white beast through the streets. It had horns and was about as big as Hei Bai. He had gotten out of Sage Mode to save chakra and called to him. He turned around and the beast stopped in its tracks to see who this newcomer was. As Naruto ran over to Aang, the beast growled at him. Aang put his hand on the beast to comfort it.

"It's OK, Flopsie. He's friendly" he said. "Anyway, what's the matter? Did you find Bumi?" Aang asked.

Naruto nodded. "As a matter of fact I did". He pointed to the highest point of the city. "I tracked him all the way up there". Just then a smile crept across the young Airbender's face. "In fact that reminds me. When we convince Bumi to come with us, I'm gonna have to bust him outta that coffin". In response, Naruto made a clone. It sat down and began to gather more natural energy for him.

"What's he doing?" Aang asked.

"He's gathering natural energy for me so that I can go into Sage Mode later on. It's the reason why I was even able to track Bumi down in the first place. I was able to sense his chakra or chi or whatever and I just went to where I was sensing it. It also increases my physical strength so I can lift and destroy heavy objects with just brute for alone. It takes time gathering natural energy though. By the time we get over there, he should have enough so when he disappears, so that the energy will transfer to me"

"Cool" said Aang. "Wait. That last thing you said about convincing Bumi to come with us, why would he even refuse in the first place?"

"Beats me. I came looking for you so you could talk some sense into him. He asked him the same thing and he said 'Now wasn't the right time'". Aang had a confused look on his face.

As Katara and Sokka trekked on the outskirts of the city with the Resistance, they saw a large group of Fire Nation soldiers heading towards the entrance of Omashu. They were traveling on the side of the main path were their presence was masked by the large builders from the incoming Fire Nation reinforcements. They could even see someone being carried in a royal palequinn.

"More Fire Nation!?" exclaimed Sokka. "What are they here for?!"

"I've got a bad feeling about this" said Katara uneasily. "You think we should sneak back into the city and warn Aang and Naruto?"

"They'll be fine" reassured Sokka. "Or at least I hope so. Even if their numbers are increasing Naruto can just use his Shadow Clones to even the playing field right?"

"I guess" said Katara as she continued with her uneasy feeling. "I just want to know why they're even sending in more reinforcements"

"Maybe because of the 'outbreak'" said Sokka as he giggled a bit. Then a frightening thought crossed his mind as he remembered the events that unfolded the night before.

Katara looked at her brother quizzically. "What's the matter?"

"Katara. Remember last night when we fought that Fire Nation girl and she ended up seeing Aang's tattoo right? You don't suppose that she might be the reason for why they're here?".

As Aang, Naruto, and Flopsie made it to where Bumi had last been seen by Naruto. They were in for a surprise. When they made the metal shed that Naruto had tore open with his Rasengan, there was no metal coffin in sight. They looked up and saw that it was being carried off by a large crane.

"Bumi!" exclaimed Aang. However Bumi couldn't hear him due to the fact that he was once again laughing uncontrollably. "We have to get to him!". Aang immediately twirled his staff, thus making it transform into a glider. "Grab on!" he told to Naruto. As Naruto grabbed on to the back of Aang's glider, from every direction Fire Nation soldiers were spriting at them and jumping from ledges in order to ambush them. Naruto even recognized the two guards that he had scared off earlier.

"There's the one that was trying to free the king!" one of them said. As thus happened, Flopsie ran amuck. Determined to have his owner repossessed by Aang and Naruto, Flopsie started to attack the soldiers. As there was a lot of them this time than when Naruto arrived earlier, Aang quickly leapt off the and began gliding off the air currents so that he and Naruto made their way towards Bumi.

Naruto grunted to himself. "I should've taken those two down earlier!"

"That doesn't matter now!" said Aang. "We just need to focus on getting Bumi out of Omashu before anymore reinforcements get called!". They both landed right on the metal coffin. Aang began to blow cold wind right on the chain that connected the coffin to the crane.

"Oh Aang there you are!" said Bumi. "Long time no see!". As Aang kept blowing cold air on the chain, the guard that was operating the crane started shooting fireballs at both him and Naruto. They both ducked and in response, Aang swung his staff at the now frozen part of the chain that was attached to Bumi's coffin, causing the three of them to fall. Seeing that they were directly falling towards a mail chute, Aang and Naruto decided to use Bumi's coffin as a way to surf down the mail chute.

"All we have to do is just keep going downwards until we reach the gate to the city" said Aang.

"Aang!" exclaimed Bumi. "I have something to say to you!"

"Hold on Bumi! We'll have to get you out of the city first!"

This new gang of Fire Nation soldiers that was escorting the royal palequinn to Omashu had finally reached the gate where they were let in. When they were let in, they were greeted by the same girl that the group had encountered the night before. The palanquin was set down and a girl that wore what looked like to be Fire Nation armor minus the helmet and spears that regular soldiers were equipped with had emerged from it and walked over to meet the girl that was waiting for her. Her armor was more similar to the soldiers that could firebend than to the ones that can't. Two bangs framed her face and her hair was held in a small bun that was held by a crown-like that's in the shape of a Fire Nation insignia. She also wore lipstick. Then there was another girl that walked over to join the both of them. She had on a pink midriff shirt with pink pants.

"Please tell me you're here to kill me" said the girl that had already been in Omashu prior to these newcomers. She was bowing her head to give praise to the regal presence that the girl with the armor apparently had. She looked up and chuckled a bit. The girl with the armor gave off a little chuckle as well.

The girl with the armor then hugged her. "It's great to see you Mai".

"You too Azula". They both stopped hugging and the girl in pink went up to hug Mai. "So you brought Ty Lee too? Aren't you supposed to be at the circus?"

Ty Lee stopped hugging Mai. "Well yeah, but then Azula came to me and said that she _really_ needed me. Besides, the circus was a bit too…" She looked back at Azula, who just gave her a very condescending smirk. "Hazardous for my taste."

"You sent out a messenger hawk saying you spotted the Avatar here last night. I decided to as soon as possible and picked up Ty Lee on the way. I felt that I needed an elite team. People who I _know_ can help me keep him from interfering with the Fire Nation. I was going to round you two up anyway so we can track down those two traitors, my idiot brother and washed up uncle but it seems like we have another target to deal with" said Azula. Just then they were interrupted by a guard sprinting towards them.

"Princess Azula! Princess Azula!" he exclaimed. "It has been reported that the King has been taken from our possession!"

Azula's smile that she had on quickly turned into a frown. "By who!"

"By two people. One is wearing yellow and red robes with a hat and the other is wearing a black headband"

"Red and yellow robes?" questioned Azula. She turned to Mai. "That sounds exactly like what you described the Avatar to be wearing". She turned back towards the guards. "As for you, the fact that you even let the King get taken in the first place just lets me know how well you, the Governor, and the rest of the soldiers are running this city. Where were they last seen?"

"They were last seen sliding down one of the chutes. From the looks of it, they might be heading straight for the gate of city. When we first invaded Omashu, we saw that one of the chutes lead towards it."

Azula walked past the guard. "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself" she murmured. "Mai. Ty Lee. Come with me"

Naruto and Aang continued to slide downward through the city.

"We're not far from the gate! Once we get there we're home free!" exclaimed Aang

"I'd still watch out for Fire Nation though!" exclaimed Naruto. "Remember a lot of them saw us take off with Bumi. I wouldn't be surprised if they started sending out search parties". Just then, as Naruto looked from his peripheral vision, he saw a blast of lightning headed towards him, Aang and Bumi. The blast had hit them, which also caused a large gap where they just were when travelling down the chute.

"Hope I didn't kill the king on accident" said a smirking Azula. Smoke had apparently been rising from her fingertips. Her and her colleagues had been on the ground. "Now we just need to get a some soldiers over here and clean up this…". She stopped mid-sentence when she saw Bumi's coffin flying right towards her and her team. They all jumped out of the way narrowly escaping the casket speeding right towards them. As the casket crashed to the ground, they looked over and saw that there was a huge dent implemented right in the middle of it. They then looked back over and saw two figures jump out of the cloud of smoke.

"You missed!" exclaimed Naruto as he and Aang jumped over their pursuers. Naruto quickly picked up Bumi's coffin while Aang was on his side and they both made a run for the gate of the city. Mai, Ty Lee, and Azula chased after them. As they ran through the deserted streets, Azula and Mai climbed up small buildings so that they would have a better shot at shooting down their prey. They both evaded to the best of their ability. As they both edged closer and closer to the gate, they could see a bunch of soldiers in formation in front of the gate. They stopped in their tracks as they reached the crowd of soldiers. Tempted to fight, Naruto sat Bumi down and made the hand sign to summon clones. To their surprise, everyone saw a giant mammal block out the sun, as it was heading right towards then; it was Appa. He touched down, and they saw that Sokka and Katara were both on Appa's head and Sokka was using the reigns. Appa whipped his tail around, thus blowing a powerful gust of wind that pushed the incoming Fire Nation soldiers to make room for Aang and Naruto to hop on Appa so that they could take off. Naruto leapt up onto Appa's saddle while still carrying Bumi's coffin. Aang started to climb up onto Appa.

"Yip Yip!" exclaimed Sokka, who whipped Appa's reigns prompting him to take off. Not wanting to lose not only the king, but also long searched for Avatar, Azula ran forward and proceeded to shoot fireball at the fleeing group. Sokka tried to his best to steer Appa to avoid and evade. This was then followed by her moving her hands around in a circular motion, thus generating lightning. She then shot it upward at the group, who narrowly dodged it. They could feel the heat of the lightning nesting on their faces before they got too far out of range from the Fire Nation princess to hit them. "That was too close for comfort".

Aang sighed in relief. "It's done. We finally have Bumi". He crawled over to Appa's head. "You OK Buddy?" . Appa groaned in response.

"Aang" started Bumi. "It's nice to see you again. And you didn't bother introducing me to your new friend". He looked at Naruto. "I'm surprised that he was able to lift this thing with no help at all"

Aang turned to face him. "It's nice to see you too. And this is Naruto. He's from another world and he's helping us fight off the Fire Nation. Anyway, to more important matters, we came here to save you and so you could teach me Earthbending"

"Wait, another world?" asked Bumi.

Naruto sighed. He didn't really feel like explaining the 'boy from a different world" situation to him at the moment. "We'll explain later. For now we gotta get you outta here!"

"I've already told you plenty of times that I didn't want to leave the city just yet!" exclaimed Bumi.

Naruto sighed once more. "You've been telling me that ever since I found you!"

"Bumi why don't you want to leave? In fact, why did you surrender when Omashu was invaded? What's the matter with you Bumi?!" Aang exclaimed.

"Listen to me, Aang. There are options in fighting called 'Jings'". Bumi replied. "It's a choice in how you direct your energy"

"I know! There's Positive Jing when you're attacking and Negative Jing when you're retreating"

"And Neutral Jing" added Bumi. "When you do nothing!"

"There are 3 jings?"

"Well technically there are eighty-five, but let's just focus on the third. Neutral jing is the key to Earthbending. It involves listening and waiting for the right moment to strike"

"Ohh, so that's why you kept saying that you didn't want to be taken out of the city just yet" interrupted Naruto. "Why didn't you just tell me"

"Because it's funny messing with people" Bumi replied. He then turned to Aang and gave him a serious look. "Your teacher will be someone who has mastered Neutral Jing"

Aang looked down in disappointment. "So that means I'll have to find someone else then"

Bumi nodded. He then turned to Naruto. "It's amazing how you were able to buy this thing up"

"It's because I'm in Sage Mode" Naruto responded. "I was able to lift you because of it. I can even sense the chakra natures of other people"

"Chakra?"

"He's talking about chi" Katara explained. "In his world, Chakra is what Chi is in our world"

"Chakra, Sage Mode, other worlds, Aang is this your friends idea of getting me back for what happened the last time you came here?" Bumi asked. He was certain that this was a joke. Other worlds? Chakra? Sage Mode? Was this just some made up nonsense.

"Well why would it be a joke?" asked Sokka. You saw Naruto lift that thing your in with ease, do you really think anyone, especially someone his size, could lift that without bending?"

"And I don't know about you, but this isn't the best time to be pulling pranks" Katara added.

"Well if that's the case" Bumi said as he turned to Naruto. "Pick me up and drop me"

Naruto's eyebrows raised to his hairline. "Pick you up and drop you?"

"They didn't cover my face so I can still earthbend. Before I hit the ground, I'll convert the earth into a softer material like dirt and bend myself right back into the city.

"Um… ok" Naruto said. He picked up the metal casket and dropped Bumi. The group looked over the saddle and saw that he was going to land on someone's roof. As He dropped, they could then hear the echo of Bumi's laughter.

"Told you he was a weirdo" Sokka said.


End file.
